The major accomplishment this year has been the completion of an analysis showing that in Japan, Poland and the United States, the effects on intellectual functioning and concern for self-directedness and autonomy of both social stratification (defined in terms of a hierarchy of power, privilege and prestige) and of social class (defined in terms of ownership and control over the means of production and the labor power of others) come about primarily because higher stratification position and advantaged position in the class structure provide greater opportunities for occupational self-direction,